Huohuo's Concern

"You're awake?"

Fu Hua's voice by his ear quickly brought Gwen back to his senses. He looked to the side and saw Fu Hua smiling at him.

"Yeah. Sorry, I fell asleep just now. Sorry for the wait."

After apologizing to Fu Hua, Gwen began checking his condition, wanting to see exactly what had changed in him.

"No need to apologize. This is normal..."

Fu Hua shook her head with a smile and lightly tapped her terminal twice.

"Congratulations. You've successfully taken your first steps into Heart Resonance."

"Heart Resonance?"

Gwen raised his brows in surprise.

In Gwen's worst-case prediction, he would not have been able to learn something like Heart Resonance, which tested one's state of mind.

"That's right,"

Fu Hua explained.

"If you think carefully, you should have heard a special... melody just now.

That was Heart Resonance, one of the Tai Xu Five Resonances.

And judging by your current state, you've successfully begun learning it."

"A melody..."

With Fu Hua's reminder, Gwen instantly recalled the sound he had ignored earlier and understood.

At the same time, a sense of vigilance rose within Gwen. It was fine this time, since Fu Hua had been helping him cultivate Heart Resonance, but if it had been an enemy, he would have suffered badly.

As if sensing what Gwen was thinking, Fu Hua's smile faded slightly. She turned serious and said,

"Sorry. Because cultivating Heart Resonance is rather special, I began teaching you without informing you in advance..."

"It's fine. You only did it so I could learn Heart Resonance better. I understand."

Before Fu Hua could finish, Gwen waved his hand and stopped her from continuing.

"It's good that you understand..."

Seeing how understanding Gwen was, Fu Hua secretly relaxed before continuing,

"I've already sent Heart Resonance to you. There's no need to deliberately pursue what it truly is. It has no meaning in itself. Its profundity lies in the fact that reciting it, silently chanting it, and listening to it can temper your state of mind."

"I understand."

Gwen nodded, but he did not open his terminal to check it. Instead, he continued asking,

"Of the Tai Xu Five Resonances, I've now learned Form Essence, Intent Resonance, Soul Essence, and Heart Resonance. Is the next step to learn the final Spirit Resonance?"

"Theoretically, yes, but it's still too early for you—"

Hearing Gwen ask about Spirit Resonance, Fu Hua shook her head slightly and explained with a stern expression,

"Spirit is the ultimate transformation. Even without a sword, there is still a sword. Transform spirit into a sword, and sword qi forms naturally. That is Spirit Resonance.

Spirit is the ultimate transformation, the wondrous workings of all things, something that cannot be questioned through form.

It has no physical body, nor does it require one. This sword fills all space; this sword is space itself. Thus, it is everywhere and nothing can stand against it.

In truth, Spirit Resonance is the shaping and extension of Honkai Energy. The prerequisite for using it is the ability to control a vast amount of Honkai Energy.

Your Honkai Energy adaptability is certainly excellent, but you are still some distance from wielding Sword God—

To wield the true Sword God, it would be best to wait until you have cultivated the other four resonances to a certain level. With Sword Heart as the foundation, see heaven and earth as your dantian, turn your body into meridians, use Soul Essence as the guide, condense the formless sword, use Form Essence to turn the formless into form, gather it with Intent Resonance, and let sword qi commune with spirit. Only then is it Sword God..."

Fu Hua spoke slowly, etching every word deeply into Gwen's mind as she imparted her understanding of Sword God to him.

"I understand..."

After carefully savoring Fu Hua's insights on Sword God and combining them with his understanding of Tai Xu Sword Qi from his previous life, Gwen gained a faint realization. He nodded lightly and committed those insights to memory.

A moment later, Gwen rose to his feet, picked up the Xuanyuan Sword beside him, and said to Fu Hua,

"There should still be some time before noon. I'll try practicing Soul Essence. Sorry for the trouble, Instructor Fu, but please point out any mistakes."

Fu Hua nodded in agreement, but she still said,

"Just call me Fu Hua..."

"Alright..."

Gwen nodded, though his hands had already begun practicing the Twenty-One Forms of the Four Elements of Form Essence that Fu Hua had just taught him.

Time slowly passed. When the doors to the virtual training room opened once more, Gwen and Fu Hua emerged, both with a light sheen of sweat on their foreheads.

"Wow, how long did the class monitor keep that up?"

"Looks like almost three hours..."

"That long?"

Seeing the two emerge, the Valkyries from the Far East Branch waiting outside immediately began whispering among themselves.

Chapter 85: Huohuo's Concern

Listening to the girls' rather suggestive remarks, Gwen's eyelids twitched. But judging by their expressions, they were simply amazed by Fu Hua's strength—

Although these trainees, selected through multiple rounds of screening for further study, could all be considered elites, one-on-one instruction usually did not last very long.

After all, they had come here to learn, not to fight to the death. Learning something and then taking time to digest it was the proper choice.

Someone like Fu Hua, who had spent over three hours with Gwen in the virtual training room, was truly one of a kind.

During the morning lessons, they had all clearly recognized the gap between themselves and the instructors from headquarters. Naturally, they would not suspect that Gwen lacked strength.

So naturally, it meant that their beloved class monitor, Fu Hua, was strong enough that even a headquarters instructor required a long time to guide her.

Outside the whispering crowd, a cold and beautiful girl with doll-like delicate features, black hair, and red eyes did not join her companions' discussion. She merely quietly watched the two who had just emerged from the virtual training room.

Or rather, even while sitting among them, she was clearly separated from her companions by an invisible barrier.

Gwen glanced over the chattering crowd, his gaze lingering briefly on the black-haired girl. Then, in response to the questioning looks from the other two instructors, he gestured that everything was fine.

After confirming that nothing had happened on Gwen's side, the other two instructors finally relaxed. They began organizing the group, gave a brief speech, and ended the trainees' first morning of study.

Once the group was dismissed, the trainees, who had already familiarized themselves with the headquarters grounds yesterday, left in groups of three or five amid cheerful laughter.

Although Fu Hua still remembered the task Theresa had assigned her to comfort Wuse Huohuo, she likewise could not refuse the enthusiasm of the other trainees. Otherwise, it would only bring Wuse Huohuo even more trouble. All she could do was give Wuse Huohuo an apologetic look.

Her red eyes watched everything, but Wuse Huohuo showed no emotional reaction, as though she had long grown accustomed to it.

Seeing this, the two instructors standing with Gwen exchanged a glance, both seeing the helplessness in each other's eyes.

"Sorry for the trouble, seniors, but could you keep this... student Wuse Huohuo company?"

As for Gwen, he quietly made the suggestion to the two seniors, whose ranks were lower than his but whose age and experience far surpassed his own.

"Not bad, little Gwen. You're quite thoughtful..."

The red-haired Milia nodded with a smile, not forgetting to tease Gwen. Though their ranks were somewhat lower than Gwen's, their age advantage and Gwen's gentle personality made these aunties... big sisters enjoy teasing him.

"Leave it to us..."

As she spoke, the two women walked toward Wuse Huohuo, who was preparing to leave alone, and called for the cold-tempered girl to leave the training grounds with them.

Gwen did not look at the three of them further and simply left on his own.

However, despite having no direct connection with him, Wuse Huohuo still cast a seemingly casual glance at Gwen as he headed down another path at the intersection.

Though the two instructors beside her had not said so directly, Wuse Huohuo could more or less guess that Gwen might have been the one who asked them to accompany her.

Milia sharply caught that glance from Wuse Huohuo and quietly teased,

"What's this? Is little Wuse looking at our new A-rank star?"

Though the instructors maintained the necessary authority during class, privately, since they were all women, no one deliberately kept a straight face—

Honkai was already bitter enough. There was no need to make things harder for themselves.

"...Yes."

After hesitating for a moment, Wuse Huohuo, who was only teased in that tone by her elders at home, Himeko, and Theresa, still admitted it.

"I wanted to see what my future opponent and comrade would be like."

Though the cold violence Wuse Huohuo had suffered at St. Freya Academy had made her seem somewhat distant, the guidance and comfort from Theresa and Himeko had kept her from going to extremes. She had not abandoned the mission she had accepted since childhood because of it.

And in Wuse Huohuo's eyes, Gwen, who was currently like a rising new star, was both her future opponent and her comrade on the battlefield against Honkai.

"So? Isn't he handsome?"

Hearing Wuse Huohuo's answer, Milia's eyes shifted as she lowered her voice further and asked.

"Mhm..."

Wuse Huohuo, who had been thinking about the future, answered instinctively. Then she realized that this question would likely invite even more teasing and hurriedly explained,

"Pretty faces are all the same. I'm more interested in how he performs on the battlefield..."

"..."

Milia's desire to tease her junior suddenly froze. For a moment, she felt as though she understood why Wuse Huohuo had been subjected to cold violence.

However, Milia did not show it. She merely chuckled and said,

"Don't worry, little Wuse. You'll have a chance. Your curriculum includes practical combat classes...

Come on, the light's green..."

Meanwhile, Gwen went home, cooked himself some noodles, and ate casually.

"You seem somewhat absent-minded."

Just as Gwen stirred the noodles in his bowl, Kevin's voice suddenly sounded, making Gwen's movements pause—

Although Gwen had deliberately maintained the stability of their connection today, Kevin's silence had nearly made him forget that there was someone like Kevin attached to him.

"Yeah, a little..."

Gwen did not hide anything in response to Kevin's question and nodded.

"If your doubts concern strength, I can try to answer them.

If you have psychological issues, I suggest you resolve them with a psychologist as soon as possible, or find someone to talk to.

Losing focus on the battlefield will only harm both yourself and others."

Since Gwen did not conceal it, Kevin said nothing more and merely gave him a simple reminder.

"I'll keep that in mind."

Gwen replied. Seeing that Kevin did not respond, he did not linger on the matter and obediently continued eating his noodles.

The reason for Gwen's distraction was simple—

Wuse Huohuo.

When the personnel had been assigned in the morning, Gwen had found the name vaguely familiar. But since he was about to cultivate Tai Xu Sword Qi and needed to adjust his condition, he had not thought much about it.

After successfully learning Heart Resonance and leaving the virtual training room, however, seeing that exquisite black-haired, red-eyed girl again caused a flash of insight to strike Gwen's mind, reminding him where that strange familiarity came from—

Although Gwen had only been a Honkai Impact 3 player in his previous life, he had watched a few videos of Honkai Impact 2.

And that familiarity with the name Wuse Huohuo came from exactly that!